Western diet causes colon cancer risk to skyrocket – new study

A new study has revealed that eating a western diet, rich in animal proteins and fats, greatly increases the risk of colon cancer, but the issue can be resolved by switching to a high-fiber African diet.

The study involved 20 black American volunteers who swapped their
diet for an African one for a fortnight. The result was a
shocking drop in colon cancer risk.

In contrast, a group of 20 African study participants, who
switched from an African to an American diet, found their risk of
contracting colon cancer quickly rising over the same period of
time.

“Animal protein and fat intake was two to three times higher
in Americans, whereas carbohydrate and fiber, chiefly in the form
of resistant starch, were higher in Africans,” the
researchers wrote in the Nature Communications journal.

The volunteers had their colons examined before and after the
diet swap. Scientists also measured biological markers that
indicate colon cancer risk and studied samples of bacteria taken
from the colons.

Researchers said that they were most surprised by how fast and
significant the change occurred, not by the fact that it had
taken place.

“We can't definitively tell from these measurements that the
change in their diet would have led to more cancer in the African
group or less in the American group, but there is good evidence
from other studies that the changes we observed are signs of
cancer risk,” said the study co-author Jeremy Nicholson from
Imperial College London, as cited by Reuters.

The main reason for the changes was the way
in which microbione, a bacteria in the bowel, responded and
changed its metabolism to adapt to the new diet.

An African diet’s key component is fiber, since most of the food
is plant-based, while the US diet contains a lot of processed
products, fat and animal proteins.

Fiber can be found in fruit, vegetables and cereals, and
scientists believe fiber helps waste products to pass through the
bowel.

Colon cancer is the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in men
and women in the US: 136,000 new cases appear yearly, with 50,000
dying from the disease, according to American Cancer Society
estimates.

In South Africa colon cancer is much less widespread, with only
five out of 100,000 people affected.

Worldwide, colon cancer is the fourth deadliest form of the
disease, killing over 600,000 people a year.

The study was carried out by researchers from Imperial College
and the University of Pittsburgh, who worked with 20 US-based and
20 South Africa-based volunteers.